Charity is a good thing and, in the watch industry, charity is becoming an ever more popular thing.
Why?
Because charity makes sense.
Not only does involvement in charitable causes make a positive impact on the world around us, but it makes good financial sense as well. A watch brand or a retailer that participates in charitable causes on any level, international, national or local, is seen as an integral part of the community. People who find out about a brand or a retailer through a charitable cause often end up becoming loyal customers because of this shared experience.

Get started, be a leader
Any company, whether brand or retailer, can get involved in charity at any level. You don't have to start out giving millions; you can begin with small gestures, building up to bigger actions.
Some companies share the profit margin from the sale of watches with charities, meaning that the main expenses are covered. So what if you didn't get your margin on a few watches - the wholesale price of the watch is covered, so it really doesn't cost you anything to get involved. Other companies absorb the total cost - product, margin, advertising and more.




Audemars Piguet special charity timepiece engraved with President George H.W. Bush’s signature.
Save the Children are supported by TAG Heuer and Audemars Piguet.
Volunteers work for the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity Musicians Village sponsored by Longines for people displaced by Hurricane Katrina.


There are a number of ways to do it - the important thing is to do it.
Think about the big picture and the impact your business has on the community and the environment. Then take action to improve on what you consider to be your company's weak areas. “It's about connecting to your values and figuring out how you want to impact the world,” Karlin Sloan, the Founder and President of Karlin Sloan & Company and the author of ‘Smarter, Faster, Better: Strategies for Effective, Enduring, and Fulfilled Leadership’, says. “Your business is impacting the community, the health of the environment. I have seen smaller retailers do very interesting things in the community, where they set up volunteer programmes and matching charitable contributions, and that impacts the bottom line. It doesn't have to be expensive to do this.”

Brands
The watch industry is one of the most charitable industries out there, from a brand standpoint. Most brands have a cause or two that appeals to their sensibility and customer base. Across the board, watch companies are very good about giving back, about sharing the wealth with those less fortunate or in need.
Some examples include the Rolex Awards for Enterprise and their Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, Girard-Perregaux and Action Innocence, as well as the American Nicaraguan Foundation, Hublot with the MDM Foundation benefiting underprivileged children, TAG Heuer and Save The Children, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Ideas del Sur, Harry Winston and the Andre Agassi Foundation, Vacheron Constantin and the Queen Sophie Alzheimer’s Foundation, Audemars Piguet and Save the Children and Charity Folks, the Richemont Group and the Laureus Foundation, and the watch auction ‘Only Watch’ in Monaco, which raises funds for medical research, where many watch companies produce and then donate unique timepieces to be auctioned off.
Girard-Perregaux North America's President Ron Jackson talks about the American Nicaraguan Foundation. “We got involved when the President and CEO of the foundation, Alfredo Tellas, contacted one of our dealers in Florida, Jose Rocca,” he details. “Mr. Tellas was talking with Jose about his desire to do something more than just ask someone for money for his foundation, to give them something for their money at the same time benefiting the foundation. Instead of looking for a 100 percent donation, he wanted to give something back to the people who were donating. Jose came to us with the idea to create a limited edition watch, which we were very excited about.
”Doing this makes sense for Girard-Perregaux because it gives us a chance to produce an interesting limited edition, which commercially is a good project, but it gave us the ability to do that keeping in mind that our mutual objective was to create value for the American Nicaragua Foundation. It's really a win-win, for us, the jeweller, the foundation, and the ultimate owner of the watch.”
Many companies in the watch industry and beyond are trying to find a balance between doing something charitable and having it make sense as a company. In Girard-Perregaux's situation, the American Nicaraguan Foundation is an exciting project because it has something for the brand, for its jeweler, for the foundation and for the end consumer.




1st Charity Cup Jaeger-LeCoultre at the Ham Polo Club in Surrey, England for the children’s charity Ideas del Sur.
Robin and Mark Levinson with NFL Hall of Famer Michael Irvin. Levinson donated a Giantto watch which raised over US$6500 for Michael’s Playmakers Charity.
Mark and Robin Levinson with Dan and Claire Marino and others at a Piaget event benefiting the Dan Marino Foundation.


“It's easy to just donate money or donate watches. It's much harder to find a charitable activity that serves everyone's needs - the brand, the charity, the retailer and the end consumer,” Jackson adds.
Charity is not yet an international ideal. “I think the future trend is going to be sharing,” says Jean-Claude Biver of Hublot. “All other centuries have been about conquering and exploiting. You cannot exploit anymore. I believe that the 21st century will be a century of sharing; involvement in charity is becoming more and more popular.”
The United States is leading the way.
“In America, especially, our targeted customers like raising money for charity,” says Georges-Henri Meylan, CEO, Audemars Piguet. “It works quite well. We find there are many very generous people, and many carry on as our customers in the future.
”In the longterm, certainly, being involved with the right charities is good for business,“he continues.”The people who are involved with these events very often come back as customers."

Retailers
On a local level, watch retailers are constantly sponsoring events, auctions and charitable organizations, which connects them with their communities and keeps their name in front of people.
“It has always been our feeling that it is meaningful and important to share,” says Robin Levinson, Levinson Jewelers (USA). It also makes us feel good to know that we are helping. It is wonderful for everyone. Those receiving are so grateful and I would bet that it puts our store in a very positive light. I don't think getting involved is a responsibility but it is definitely a pressure. Nearly everyone involved in a charity asks for something. Just get involved with whichever charity you may be fond of or believe in. Some people like to donate their time as well as money."
Talking about charitable involvement as a way to help your bottom line can appear a little heartless. “I consider it sort of awful to even consider what you get out of being charitable: the mere act is what makes us whole,” says Terry Betteridge of Betteridge Jewelers (USA). “The minute we put a metric on it and say by giving x percent of our gross we achieve x percent profit, we miss the point and cheapen ourselves. The success is in the doing.”

Local, national, international
Local charities and events probably make more sense for retailers who do their business in these communities. For national efforts, chains and brand distributors might be better suited. On an international level, it's probably brand headquarters that makes that kind of decision. The good news is that everyone benefits - if retailers do a local event, using a particular brand, that brand benefits just like the retailer. If the American distributor does a fantastic event, the international headquarters can use that good will and exposure positively. And, finally, if the brand does something on a grand scale, every distributor around the world can use the effort to promote the cause and the brand.




Harry Winston and LADY FéERIE by Van Cleef & Arpels produced especially for Only Watch.
MALTE TONNEAU TOURBILLON by Vacheron Constantin produced and sold to benefit the fight against Alzheimer's Disease.
In the presence of Queen Sophie of Spain and Juan-Carlos Torres, Vacheron Constantin held a special concert in Madrid in aid of the fight against Alzheimer’s. From left to the right : Alfonso Duran,
Juan-Carlos Torres, Inma Shara and Miguel Gomez.


Exposure
We all have the ideal of the anonymous benefactor, the person or company who provides support without any recognition. That does not have to be the case here - you want to spread the word about your activities to make sure people know about what your company has done, but also to get the word out that there are these worthwhile causes and they need support. Letting people know about what you are doing helps the cause you are supporting.
Local newspapers, magazines, websites and more are hungry for ‘good news’ - there is plenty of bad stuff out there in the world, with a little effort, it's possible to get your good story out there. And, you've all heard the adage that a satisfied customer tells five people while a dissatisfied one tells ten times more, if you are known as the retailer/distributor/brand who never gets behind good causes, that can't be good for business.

Picking a charity
Many companies choose the charity or cause because of something personal - perhaps you have lost a loved one to cancer, then cancer might be the best cause to support. Others pick causes based on need and availability - a local branch of the American Heart Association might contact a retailer to provide a watch for a silent auction or you hear through the grapevine that one of the local charities needs a title sponsor for an event.
“These charities are made by humans,” explains Hublot's Biver. “For us, the relationship is important. We are very irrational and our involvement depends on our emotions and our relationships. There are certain things that for me are more sensitive - children, illnesses. The more a charity needs the money, the more we are inclined to help.”
Regardless of how you get involved, just get involved. It will make your company a better one for giving back, you will increase your exposure and help make the world a better place.
What could be wrong with that?

The next step might be to involve customers in charitable causes as partners. Currently, many brands have exclusive watch models or auction pieces where the proceeds go to charity, which can help convince a buyer to pay more for the watch, as it is going to charity. Wouldn't it be interesting if there was a way to get the customer more involved in the charitable efforts from the brands and the retailers?


Source: Europa Star October-November 2007 Magazine Issue